Inviting a Dialogue about Core Coaching Competencies

J Auerbach Third International Coach Federation Coaching Research Symposium 2005

The process of International Coach Federation (ICF) coach credentialing and accreditation of coach training programs revolves around the individual coach, or the coach training organization, demonstrating sufficient muster in the eleven ICF core competencies. The ''Portfolio Committee" developed the eleven ICF core competencies in 1999. This study evaluates how the existing eleven core competencies were identified and reports on a pilot survey of forty coaching competencies rated by twenty-nine coaches. This paper examines whether coaches currently view the eleven ICF coaching competencies as the most important competencies to be an effective coach. In addition, preliminary findings are briefly reported of a survey in which 565 coaches rated which competencies, or skills, are most important to valuable coaching. Nine of the eleven ICF core coaching competencies are identified as highly important by the coaches in the survey and three additional competencies that are not named by ICF are identified. The three competencies that were identified in this survey that are not specifically listed as ICF competencies are "lifelong training and development, " "managing obstacles, "and "thought partner."